Scarlet Rose
by midnight moonchild
Summary: Alternative Universe. Voldmort is dead and Albus Dumbledore has need of a new Charms professor and who better then Victoria Scarlet an old student of hogwarts and ex Aura for the ministry of magic and a aparent a match for Snapes sarcasm.
1. Chapter 1

**Scarlet Rose**

**By Midnight Moonchild**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the harry potter characters in this story they belong to J.K Rowling. I make no profit from this story it is for entertainment only.**

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The air was cold today. Jack Frost had begun to creep his cold fingers across the city and Frost was ever present as the days grew colder and winter finally set in. Victoria hated winter it reminded her of things she hoped to forget. She frowned in irritation as someone brushed past her rudely and crossed the road in front her without so much as an excuse me or apology it was then that she noticed the amount of People running around the streets ladled with bags upon bags of gifts. She shook her head what did she expect it was nearly Christmas after all.

She made her way across the street and around the corner hoping to escape the crowds she hated crowds. In fact there where allot of things she hated in the world of muggles. That seemed to make her more determined as she picked up her pace rounding another corner and onto another busy street keeping her eyes downcast so she could ignore the people staring at her.

With Eyes a striking shade of violet and a scar shaped like a lazy S across her left eye Victoria had always stood out in a crowd but never in a good way. Parents would always guide there children across the street and away from her when they noticed her scar or her eyes.

She frowned in annoyance they knew nothing of her past, They didn't know the story behind her scar. You would think they had never seen one before the way they stared at her. Her brow furrowed even more when she began to feel guilty for getting angry at them, they where muggles they didn't understand much of anything and muggles were known to hate that which they didn't understand, they didn't know any better and she had no right to judge them for it. She cursed under her breath feeling stupid for feeling guilty when she had no reason to. She could blame her mother for that one she supposed.

She had always thought her mother was to forgiving on people. Victoria sometimes wandered if she was her real mother after all she was nothing like her mother, she wasn't as forgiving. she had always thought that people who where to forgiving got taken for granted and she disliked being taken advantage of.

She gave the road she was now standing in a cautious once over not wanted to be seen as she made her way into the leaky cauldron and out the back to the alley behind it and after another few cautious glances around she withdrew her wand and began to tap along the brick wall before levelling her wand at her side to watch the bricks rearrange themselves into an archway opening a hidden pathway.

She stepped through the new opening and made her way into the bustling streets of diagon alley to the floo port across the way. The unpleasant smell of burning floo powder assaulted her senses as she entered the port and stepped into one of the fireplaces taking a handful of floo powder in one hand as she did so.

"Hogsmead" she said clearly throwing the powder to the floor and disappearing in a puff of green fire as she did so.

When she arrived she began strolling the less crowded streets of hogsmead at her leisure like she had walked this path a hundred times before letting her thoughts wonder.

She had always been an awkward child or at least that would of been your impression of her if you were unaware she was a witch. Her parents had noticed she was different from an early age and had immediately arranged for her to change schools like they had been expecting it. She had been so angry when she found out they had been lying to her for the first 14 years of her life. That they had forced her to go to a muggle school and suffer the bullying she had suffered for being different.

But after a few years at Hogwarts she had settled in and the bullying stopped after all the students there were just as different as she was. She smiled at the memories and with a sigh she entered the coffee shop she had been standing in front of and ordered her usual before taking a seat by the window to watch the shoppers passing by. She liked it here people didn't stair at her here nobody shoved past her rudely and most importantly no rude children asking her rude questions and bugging her on the streets.

ever since she had graduated she had felt bored with her life until she began to work as an aura for the ministry, but that hadn't lasted she still couldn't understand the ministry's decision to let her go she had captured almost as many dark wizards as mad eye moody but he had retired before that idiot fudge could sack him. The paranoid idiot seemed to fear any witch or wizard that became more powerful than him and that wasn't a hard thing to achieve, fudge would sack anyone he thought of as a threat to the ministry as if anyone would want to control a bunch of snot nosed wizard to set in the old ways accept him anyway. She snickered to herself taking a sip of her coffee.

The bell to the coffee shop rang as another customer entered however this customer was different there was an air of authority to this one; the shop went silent like some old muggle western before the patrons continued their paused conversations. Victoria looked up a moment later and was surprised to find albus Dumbledore standing before her.

"Well, well what a pleasant surprise miss Scarlet." Said Dumbledore making himself at home in the chair opposite her. She could ignore him but her years at Hogwarts had taught her Dumbledore would not be ignored, he had his ways. She rolled her eyes at the familiar twinkle in his eyes like he had planned them meeting from the beginning.

"Professor so nice to see you again" she said her voice had a slight huskiness to it like she had smoked one too many cigarettes. It wasn't an unpleasant voice. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" she said taking a sip of her coffee a moment later.

"Well you see Hogwarts has a teaching vacancy. And if I remember correctly you where exceptional at charms and potions." He said in his usual cheerful Voice Victoria frowned "how convenient that should happen upon me then but I'm only one women so why mention two subjects " She said her voice taking on an icy quality that most would find off putting Dumbledore however seemed UN affected.

"well you see professor Flitwick has decided to retire and due to the increase in death eater attacks the ministry is demanding more and more potions and while professor snape is more than capable of making the necessary potions he also has classes to teach and the infirmary's own potions stock to fill. I'm sure he would appreciate some assistance." Dumbledore said producing a sherbet lemon from his robes and unwrapping it.

"The dark lord is dead. Why are the death eaters still coursing trouble? You would think they would keep a lower profile." She said almost to herself. "It seems the fall out is worse than we expected." Dumbledore shrugged tossing the unwrapped sweet into his mouth with a smile.

"would you be interested?" he asked making her cock an eyebrow at him, she would of been lying if she said she wasn't after all she had always wanted to meet professor snape the renowned potion master and the creator of the wolfs bane potion. She just didn't like the look Dumbledore was giving her.

"I might." She stated simply as she got up from her seat and began making her way to the exit of the shop. "I took the liberty of moving your things to your new accommodations." Dumbledore called after her "I thought you might." She said a smile curling her lip despite her efforts to hide it.

Dumbledore grinned offering her his arm. She blinked in surprise not expecting such a fast movement from such an old man. The twinkle in his eye seemed to say I'm full of surprises as she accepted his arm, a dizzying moment later Victoria found herself staring at the massive front doors of Hogwarts.

Dumbledore cleared his throat to get her attention after a few moments of watching her staring up at the doors lost in nostalgia. "Sorry." She said with a little nervous laugh "Memories?" he asked softly and smiled when she nodded silently giving the doors one last look before following him inside.

"I'm afraid your rooms are in the dungeons I hope this isn't a problem." Dumbledore said leading her through a corridor. "That's fine I prefer the dark anyway." She said not missing the pointed look Dumbledore gave her, she shrugged and he smiled slightly before looking up at the tapestry that hid the secret entrance to the dungeons.

He nodded to her before stepping through it Victoria followed him and found herself in a dark stone passageway with flaming torches lighting the way down into the dungeons and the rooms bellow.

He paused mid stride Victoria nearly walking into him at his sudden halt before she noticed a tall man in billowing black robes turn around the corner up a head. He had shoulder length black hair that shone in the torch light whether from being greasy or just shinny she couldn't tell from where she stood. The thing that struck her most was his eyes they where a deep brown that could easily be mistaken for black for they were so cold she was sure those eyes would be beautiful if the man would show a slither of warmth.

"Ah Severus just the wizard." Albus said smiling warmly at the man despite the frown of suspicion the man shot him. So this was the great professor snape she thought to herself giving him a quick once over he wasn't that bad once you got over the sour expression that seemed a permanent feature on his face. His lips where slightly thin at the top but had a nice curve to them on the bottom making them almost sensual if they were not set into a thin line. His figure was mostly hidden by his robes but she was sure he was at least slightly muscular if they way he carried himself were anything to go by.

She blinked at him when snape looked at her for a moment as if he was assessing if she was a threat or not. Albus kept silent letting them assess each other before he finally spoke "Severus this is Mrs Victoria Scarlet she is to be our new Charms professor and she will also be assisting you with your potions making." Albus said giving Victoria a reassuring smile when Snape scowled at him "I assure you that won't be necessary." Snape said only to stop when Albus raised his hand to stop him.

"I must insist the ministry is asking too much of you and whether you like to admit it or not you are exhausting yourself." Snape sighed in defeat he should have known, once Albus made his mind up about something that was it "Very well." Snape growled in annoyance and looked at Victoria who had been staring at him "Will that be all Headmasters." Snape said giving Victoria a scowl for good measure.

"Yes thank you Severus." Albus said stepping aside so Snape could walk past them and down the corridor. They both watched as snape disappeared around the corner. "Pleasant fellow." Victoria said sarcastically "I would say he improves over time but." "But that would be lieing." Victoria finished for him with a grin "I think I'll get along with him just fine." She said turning to look at Albus once more. "Yes I think you will." He smiled as they continued down the corridor.

"Ah here we are, these are your rooms. I hope they are to your liking." He said opening the door for her. "I think I'll manage." She said glancing around the room before her eyes settled on her luggage.

"I shall leave you to settle in; Dinner in the great hall is at 7pm. I trust you remember the way?" Albus asked standing by the door. "I do indeed." She said walking further into the room "very well I will see you at dinner then." Albus gave her a little nod before leaving closing the door silently behind him.

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Victoria looked around her room with a smile creeping across her lips, the room was fairly large with a four poster double bed already made up in her old house colours and oh how she missed Ravenclaw. So many like minded intelligent students with a thirst for knowledge so like her own. She had made many a friend in her years at Hogwarts.

This brought a sudden pain to her heart she had also lost them all in the fight against Voldamort. She turned to the door to left of her large bed and opened it to reveal a generous bathroom with a built in shower and toilet with a small sink in the corner. She smiled to herself then a large bedroom with on sweet facilities she could get used to this.

Returning to her bed she opened her luggage and began putting her folded muggle clothes and wizard robes into the draws provided and moved her toiletries into the bathroom before hanging up a few of her paintings and photo's from her time at Hogwarts as a student.

Once this was done she gave her room another look and smiled now it looked like home. With that settled she looked at her watch, it was nearly time for dinner.

She decided she would finish her UN packing after dinner and left her rooms and nearly bumped into someone on her way out of the door. "Oh excuse me." she said in apology while dusting off her robes. "That's quite all right Mrs Scarlet." said Snape also straitening his robes. "On your way to dinner?" He asked "I was indeed." She said glad he wasn't looking as angry as he had been when Dumbledore introduced her he must have had time to think it over.

"May I escort you?" He said gesturing up the hall. "Thank you." She raised an eyebrow in suspicion for a moment he was being unusually polite. Snape then proceeded to walk down the hall beside her "Perhaps we got off on the wrong foot earlier." He said Victoria looked at him strangely for a moment was that an apology from Snape not that she was going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He must of realised it would be easier for them both if he was at least polite to her. "Perhaps." She said finally following him up the stairs to the doors of the great hall.

"I trust you will be eating with us at the head table." He said as they walked between the student tables she simply nodded in affirmation and followed him to the head table where Dumbledore looked up with a familiar twinkle in his eyes, both Snape and Victoria rolled their eyes at this making the twinkle even brighter.

"Yes I think they will get along quite nicely" Dumbledore muttered to himself "what was that Albus?" Said Professor McGonagall looking up from her meal at Dumbledore. "Nothing Minerva just thinking out loud." He said returning to his meal McGonagall gave him a funny look but said nothing.

Snape sat down in his usual place and said nothing when Victoria sat between himself and Dumbledore. "I trust you're all settled in now." Said Dumbledore watching Victoria as she put some food on her plate she nodded with a smile. "Yes I'm mostly unpacked now; I thought I would finish up after Dinner once I take a look at my classroom." She said taking a bite of chicken from her fork.

"Perhaps Snape can show you to your classroom after dinner?" Dumbledore smiled when Snape looked up hearing his name being mentioned "If you wish." He said irritably Dumbledore just wasn't happy unless he was telling snape what to do it seemed, much to Snape's annoyance but he was used to it by now and sometimes he almost took comfort in doing what Dumbledore wished it took his mind away from other things.

"Wonderful." Said Dumbledore who remained silent for the rest of their meal. Victoria pushed her plate away from herself then having eaten her fill, it seemed Snape had eaten his fill as well.

After dinner Snape showed Victoria to her classroom and stayed by the door as she entered and looked around. "well this won't do." Victoria said pulling out her wand she noticed out of the corner of her eye that snape had tensed for a second when he noticed her going for her wand. She paid him no mind however it was a habit allot of witches and wizard had picked up from the war and old habits die hard.

"Hmmmmm what to do." She thought out loud for a moment before raising her wand and getting to work, with a few flicks of her wrist the books rearranged themselves on the shelves in alphabetical order and all the chairs and tables neaten up. "Much better, A cluttered classroom is no place for learning." She nodded to herself and returned her wand to her robe pocket.

"I'm done here, Care to escort me back to my rooms." She said strolling over to Snape who had been lounging against the doorframe waiting for her. "Of course." He said in his deep voice Victoria smiled inwardly another thing to add to her observations, Snape had a lovely voice and his mannerisms when talking had you hanging on his every word especially when he drew out every word making sure to annunciate every syllable.

They walked in companionable silence on their way down to the dungeons and her rooms before stopping at her door "Thank you Snape." She said her hand going to the door handle "Please call me Severus." He said turning to leave "Severus?" she called after him and smiled when he turned round to look at her. "Please call me Victoria." She noticed a small smile at the corner of his lips when she said that. "Very well Victoria." He said before carrying on down the corridor his robes billowing behind him.

"Goodnight Severus." She said to herself as the corners of his robes disappeared around the corner. She turned back to her door and opened it before going inside. "Better have an early night, Ill want a fresh start for classes tomorrow." She made her way into the bathroom where her sleeping things where laid out on a small chair in the opposite corner of the shower by the door and the towel rack.

She hurriedly slipped out of her robes and turned on the shower before stepping under the torrent of water letting the hot water wash over her.

After a few moments she turned off the water and stepped out of the shower water dripping on the floor as she reached for her towel and dried off before getting into her night things and leaving the bathroom. She turning back the covers to her bed to slip under them then pulled the covers up to her chin and stared at the ceiling for a moment before rolling over to turn off the light.

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**Auther Note: Ok here is my latest for this is set in the harry potter universe but in an alternative universe where voldamort has been defeated and Dumbledore and Snape are alive and well Yay**

**Let me know what you think. I apologise if ive missed any gramatical errors I have been through it several times and even had a friend read over it aswell but alas sometimes things are still missed.**

**R & R please xx x**


	2. Scarlet Rose Chapter I

Scarlet Rose

Chapter I

By Midnight Moonchild

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Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters belong to me they all belong to J.K Rowling. I only Own Victoria Scarlet my OC this is for entertainment only I make no profit from this story.

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Victoria woke to the sound of her alarm clock and rolled over to turn it off. She kicked the covers off and stretched before swinging her legs off the side of the bed to get up. She stifled a yawn and padded into the bathroom for a shower.

A few moments later she immerged from the bathroom and dried off before changing into her work robes which consisted of a knee length black skirt with simple high heeled black shoes. And a red ruffle shirt with a deep crimson robe top over the top that had black trim at the front and on the sleeves. She then charmed her hair strait and applied a little lipstick before slipping her wand into her pocket.

Once she was satisfied with her appearance she left her rooms and applied her sealing charms to the door before making her way to the great hall for breakfast.

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She looked up at the doors to the great hall and took a deep breath before entering.

It was not too crowded yet but every now and then a group of students would file in, it seemed most of ravenclaw where already eating with a few Gryffindor and Slytherin but no sign of hufflepuff.

Dumbledore, Mcgonagall and Snape where at the head table as she made her way across the hall, she jerked her head up hearing a wolf whistle. Snape looked up hearing it to and couldn't help the smile tugging at his lips when Victoria whacked the culprit over the head with the daily profit on her way past rolling her eyes.

He had to admit with a raised brow that she did indeed look good in her robes but it was extremely rude and inappropriate to wolf whistle a professor of Hogwarts. He rolled his own eyes when he realised it was a boy from Slytherin, his own house.

Victoria took a seat between Snape and Dumbledore and began to fill her plate with a yawn.

"Not a morning person Victoria." Said Dumbledore with a chuckle Victoria just scowled at him and took a sip of her orange juice.

"Not everyone is a morning person like you Albus." She said with a grumble.

"My my looks like you have something in common with Snape." Dumbledore chuckled. Victoria glanced at snape who was glaring at Albus.

"So it would seem." Victoria smiled at Snape before taking a bite out of her toast. She then lent over to Snape and whispered in his ear "Is he always like this in the morning." Snape nodded and Victoria sighed before leaning back in her chair "may god save us all." She muttered looking up at the enchanted ceiling.

Once all the houses where down and eating breakfast Dumbledore stood and walked over to the podium in front of the head table and greeted the students.

"Good morning I have an announcement." The students all fell silent then looking up at Dumbledore with rapt attention.

"Professors Flitwick has retired and the position of charms professor has been taken over by Professors Victoria Scarlet." Said Dumbledore gesturing to where Victoria was seated.

Victoria stood and gave a little bow to the students and she couldn't help but smile when the Slytherin that had wolf whistled at her earlier ducked his head in embarrassment, he had apparently not realised she was a professor.

"I trust you will give her the respect she disserves." Dumbledore said looking directly at the Slytherin table before he returned to his seat.

"Your first charms lesson is later this afternoon with Gryffindor and Slytherin." Dumbledore said as he made himself comfortable in his seat, Victoria gave a little nod.

"I suppose I should spend this morning planning a lesson then shouldn't I." Victoria chuckled

"Indeed." Said Snape getting up from his seat "If you will excuse me." Snape said to Victoria before turning to leave for his classroom.

Victoria finishing her breakfast and left for her own classroom a moment later to prepare for her first lesson.

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The charms classroom was a fairly large room. A high backed chair was pushed in by a desk at the back with a few papers in neat stacks on the desk. The Desk itself was deep mahogany and had a few draws for parchment and other items. Several small desks with chairs where aligned in neat rows. Behind the desk was a few bookcases staked with books and a Fireplace was to the left of her desk.

Victoria set up a small table with a china cup and plate before making her way to her desk to make sure all her notes where in order. She smiled when the first students began to file in.

"Welcome class please take your seats." She said in an authoritative but relaxed tone and watched as the students went to their seats.

"I am professor scarlet. I used to be a student in this very school 10 years ago. I am so happy to be given the chance to teach here." She said as she wrote her name on the black board Before turning to the class.

"I only have a few ground rules in my class, I expect everyone to follow them. These rules are as follows" she paused for a moment to make sure everyone was paying attention before continuing.

"One No talking while I am talking. Two No speaking out of tern, if you wish to speak you will raise your hand. Three In this class, if you answer a question right you will earn house points However if you answer a question wrong, I will deduct house points. Therefore I advise you to only raise your hand to answer a question if you are sure of the answer." She looked up noticing a student at the back was dosing off and frowned.

"I also expect my students to give me there undivided attention, any student caught dosing off will face Detention." She raised her voice near the end and smiled noticing she now had the dossing student's attention.

"If my rules are respected, I will respect my students. Do not expects this courtesy if you are going to be disruptive." She said giving everyone a look of warning.

"Now then." She said sweetly "we are going to be learning a little charm that will make a fragile object unbreakable, Can anyone tell me the incantation for this charm?" She said her eyes scanning the classroom for any raised hands and frowned where they so unsure of themselves that they couldn't answer a simple question.

"I see. Well if you're not confident I will enlighten you. The incantation is very simple. Impervius." She said moving from around her desk to lean against it facing the class.

"Now saying this incantation isn't enough, There as a little wand work involved and you must focus." She looked around the room for moment before continuing. "Would anyone like to try this charm on this china tea cup?" she asked and smiled when a young boy from Slytherin stood and walked to the front of the class looking a little smug.

"Excellent. Now remember concentrate on the cup and flick your wand gently with the incantation." She said offering the student the mug.

The student took it from her and looked back at the other Slytherin students and grinned before looking at the mug.

"Well then give it a try." She said leaning against her desk the boy looked up from the mug for a moment and looked at Victoria her robe had slid to the side exposing a high heeled shoe and part of her left calf. The boy blushed quickly looking away to tap the mug with his wand and recited the incantation rather shakily.

Victoria had seen him looking but said nothing and took the mug from him.

"Shall we see if it has worked?" she said and then proceeded to drop the mug a smile spreading on her lips when the mug shattered into tiny pieces.

"Oh dear, it seems your concentration was off." She said frowning down at the boy as he sat back down looking embarrassed. The Gryffindor students laughed at this and then fell silent when Victoria looked at them in warning.

"Settle down." she said sternly before picking up the china plate from the small table she had set up. "Allow me to demonstrate." She said and ran her wand over the plate. "Impervious." She said firmly before dropping the plate only for it to bounce and roll under her desk.

She sighed irritably before speaking again."Right lets split you into pairs and see if we can learn this charm." She said walking down the centre isle of desk and pairing up students.

"Begin." She said watching to make sure they were working before she knelt to pick up the plate from under her desk and nearly hit her head on the corner when something was flicked at her bottom.

She stood sharply and spun on her heel catching the student responsible laughing with his charms partner and walked over to his desk to glare threateningly at him. the Class fell silent and turned to watch what was transpiring near the front of the class.

"100 points from Slytherin and detention Mr Smelting." The boy looked up with a smug grin like he had accomplished some great victory.

Her lips thinned and she glared at the boy before a nasty smile spread across her lips making the boy swallowed nervously. "With filch." She said sternly. "And I will be having words with your head of house as well." "but." The boy protested. "Unless you wish for another detention with filch I would keep your mouth shut." She growled before returning to her desk as the class return to work in silence.

She sat down sharply and opened a draw to her desk pulled out some parchment and a quill and placed them on the desk then proceeded to dip her quill into the ink to write a letter.

She folded the parchment and turned to the fireplace left of her desk and threw some powder from a pot hanging to the left of the fireplace into the Hurth. There was a crackle before the fireplace burst into green flames.

She threw the letter into the fireplace. "Professor Snape." She said and watched the letter disappear with a pop the flames going out a second later.

* * *

Severus sat at his desk grading papers in his office, the room was silent with only a small candle for a light source casting eyrie shadows through the many glass jars scattered on shelves around the room filled with all sorts of liquids and potion ingredients.

Severus always did enjoy the solitude of his office to the hustle and bustle of the staff room. He found he could get through his paperwork faster in his office. His office was also a great place for meeting with rebellious students. The jars behind his desk with pickled animal remains and other strange substances seemed to put the students on edge. Giving him the advantage of intimidation to get the truth out of them.

Strange crackling sound caught Snape's attention for a moment before the fireplace burst into flame coursing drawing Snape's attention to be drawn to the Hurth. Something was flung out of the fireplace. Snape's eyes followed the object, a Letter as it settled on his desk as the flames went out. Snape looked at the letter for a moment wandering who could of sent it before reaching out to pick it up and read it.

Dear Severus

Just thought I would let you know that Mr Smelting has lost your house 100 points and will be serving Detention with Mr filch tonight at 8pm.

Victoria

Snape frowned at this and wandered what an earth one of his students could have done to lose so many points he would have to ask Victoria about later. He threw the letter in the bin and returned to his grading he would have to deal with it later he had far too many Essays to grade.

* * *

Victoria sighed behind her desk as the last of her class filed out of the room.

"How was your first lesson?" Dumbledore said entering her classroom and walking over to her desk.

"Good for the most part but I fear Slytherin will have to work hard to earn back the points they lost." She said nonchalantly.

"Was there some trouble?" He asked softly taking a seat.

"Yes it seemed Mr Smelting thought it amusing to flick things at me, Needless to say the students are now aware of the consequences of getting on my bad side." She said with a growl.

"I see." said Dumbledore. "I shall leave you to recuperate then my dear." He smiled reassuringly at her before turning to leave. Once he was out of her room he made his way down the corridor that led out of the dungeons and nearly bumped into Snape.

"Oh terribly sorry Snape I didnt see you there." Dumbledore chuckled Snape merely raised a brow at him and moved to let Dumbledore past.

"Yes well. I best be off Foux is due a burn day soon." Dumbledore said before walking off. Snape shook his head, Dumbledore could be very peculiar sometimes.

Snape turned and entered Victoria's classroom hoping to find out about the letter she had sent him earlier.

"Good afternoon Severus." Said Victoria looking up from her desk when Snape entered.

"Good afternoon." Said snape "May I enquire as to the reason why so many points have been taken from my house." Snape asked taking the seat Victoria gestured to.

"I thought you might ask about that. I took the liberty of bottling my memory of the incident, sometimes seeing believing." She smiled handing him a glass bottle with a silvery glowing substance inside it.

"My pensive is in the corner over there." She said pointing to the right hand corner of the classroom.

Snape stood and walked over to the pensive and poured the contents of the bottle into it before leaning down to watch.

Victoria watched him flinch slightly before he lifted his head and looked at her in disbelief.

"I believe I will be having words with Mr Smelting on what is appropriate behaviour in the class room. I must apologise Victoria that was completely inappropriate of him." Said snape strolling back over to her desk with a deep frown on his face.

"Yes I agree." She said in irritation. "But no matter, I have dealt with the situation." She said. Snape merely nodded in agreement.

The room was silent for a moment before the shuffling of clothing caught victorias attention. She looked up from her desk to Snape and watched him reach into his robe's pulling out envelope which he opened before pulling out a small piece of parchment.

"The ministry have sent me an order for more veritus serum." He said sliding the piece of parchment across her desk so she could read it.

"They want how much!" She gasped Snape nodded in understanding.

"I thought since you're to be my assistant, Now is as good a time as any to start don't you." Victoria nodded dumbly.

"Indeed." She said opening the desk draw to put away her papers before sliding it shut and moving from behind her desk to follow Snape to the Potion classroom.

* * *

They walked into the potions room and got to work immediately.

Snape went into his store room to fetch the ingredients while Victoria set up to cauldrons.

Snape set out the ingredients into two separate piles and handed Victoria her pile before starting to prepare some of his own ingredients with a knife.

Victoria put the heat on under the cauldrons and then went to work preparing her piled of ingredients.

For a while they worked in silence the only sound being that of their knifes slicing roots and other ingredients.

"How long have you been a Potion Master?" Victoria asked finally breaking the silence as she stirred in another ingredient into her cauldron.

"A while." Said Snape stirring his own cauldron.

"Well that's descriptive." She said looking up from her potion but Snape hadn't heard her he was to engross in what he was doing.

Victoria watched him work for a moment. He was very efficient at preparing the ingredients and putting them in the cauldron at just the right moment.

It was then that she noticed his hands. They were nice hands not rough as she had imagined they would be, he obviously took good care of them.

She quickly added the next ingredient and stirred the cauldron a few times before leaving it to boil and returned her attention to Snape and was shocked to find him looking right at her.

"Something the matter Severus?" She asked Severus blinked a few times.

"Worried I was going to put the Eye of newt in to early?" she offered.

"Indeed." Said Snape turning up the heat to his cauldron. Victoria chuckled softly returning to her potion.

"You needn't worry Snape. I do know what I'm doing believe it or not." She said adding the final ingredient.

"I can see that." He said adding the final ingredient to his potion as well.

"These will need to heat for 2 hours. Tea?" Snape offered moving over to the kettle he had set up for just such an occasion.

Victoria nodded and took a seat near the kettle while he set up some cups.

"Sugar?" He asked turning to look at her.

"No thank you, I'm Sweet enough." She smiled at his confused expression. "Not heard that one I see, it's a muggle saying." She explained taking a cup of steaming tea from Snape.

"I see." He said taking a seat to sip his own tea.

"My mother was a muggle." She said putting her cup down to cool. Snape however said nothing.

Once there tea was finished they sat back in there chairs and waited in silence, after a few minutes Victoria chuckled to herself and Snape looked up at her in confusion.

"I'm sorry." She said calming herself so she could speak. "Are you always this good at conversation?" She smiled when he cocked a brow at her.

"My apologies I'm not used to." He paused for a moment trying to find the right word. "Company." He said watching her reaction.

"Surely you have friends." She said leaning back in her chair. Snape merely shook his head.

"Not even one?" she asked "what about Dumbledore?" She asked softly, again he shook his head.

"Dumbledore is headmaster, I find him to interfering to be considered a friend." Snape said not sure why he was telling her this.

Snape wasn't the type to reveal information that seemed irrelevant but something about Victoria made him divulge it anyway.

"Well then let's make a deal." Snape cocked his other eyebrow at that statement.

"What ever do you mean?" He said more than little curios.

"From this day forward, you and I will be friends." She said with a smile offering her hand for him to shake.

Snape looked at her like she had grown a second head for a moment why on earth would she want to be his friend. What was she after?

"Don't worry I'm not after anything. It's just, well everyone disserves to have friends and. Well you worked so hard during the war. You disserve to at least have a friend." She said her hand still extended towards him.

Snape shook his head then.

"The potions are almost ready we should begin to stir them again." He said changing the subject and ignoring her hand as he got up from his seat and moved to his cauldron.

Victoria sighed and moved to her cauldron as well "Don't think changing the subject it going to put me off." She said as she began to stir her potion. Snape however ignored her.

"I wander what would make him so mistrusting of people" Victoria thought to herself as she removed her cauldron from the heat and left it to stand while she cleaned up the mess left by the ingredients she had prepared earlier.

Snape watched her out of the corner of his eye as he cleaned the desk of residue. was she really serous about being his friend? He couldn't tell. He supposed his years as a death eater and spy for the order had made him distrustful.

She seemed genuine enough though perhaps he could risk it, he had survived the war what harm could come from letting her be his friend. It would at least make things more interesting.

Once everything was tidy they began to pour the potion into clear glass bottles and then packed them into a box and sent them to the ministry via Floo.

"Well that didn't take us to long." She said trying to lighten the mood. "Yes I suppose you are right, perhaps having you as an assistant won't be so bad." He said packing away the cauldrons.

"Would it be so bad if I was your friend also?" She said this time she didn't offer her hand. Snape sighed and looked at her for a moment as if he was assessing his options.

"No I suppose not." He said and this time when she offered her hand he took it. "Friends?" She said then blushed when he kissed her hand.

"Friends" Said snape before turning to leave the room.

Victoria stood there for a moment. He had kissed her hand. "What a peculiar way to make friends." she thought to herself before making her way out of the room and down the corridor, heading for her rooms.

The dungeon corridors where beginning to get cold as night settled over the castle.

Victoria moved about her room collecting her night things before walking into the bathroom for a quick shower before bed.

After her shower she pulled the covers back from her bed and slid under them drawing them up to her waist.

She then leant over to her bedside table to pick the book she had left there. She read until her eyes grew heavy before putting in her book mark and putting the book back on the bed side table.

She then turned out the light and pulled the covers up over her to sleep.

* * *

Auther Note: Well this is chapter I so far its not going to bad. Hope you like it so far please R & R and let me know what you think.


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